Hello, I just thought I would share a shot of my horizontal nipple, heated 5 gallon bucket that I used this year, with great success. I have two of these going, one for my Large Fowl layers and the one shown here for my Banty's. I really like this setup. I used the bucket shown, to water 75 or more Banty chicks on the last brood of 2014. The birds are seven months now.

Anyway for those new to all of this, I believe this is the way to go for many of us, if not most of us. The advantages are legion. Clean water, liquid water in winter, i.e. not frozen in a massive block, no tray for the birds with waddles to dip into the water while drinking, and freezing or frostbite, a lot less water in the air, not having a tray of warmer water than the coop temp, keeps a bunch of this from evaporating into your building, equals less chance of frostbite to combs and etc.

That is an oyster shell feeder in the corner, and a standard tube feeder for the layer pellets. The roosts are made from pine poles sold by a local rustic fencing company, they are about 4 inches in diameter. They have worked out well for me too. Oh, the little girl feeding the chicks in the pink dress, that is a nod to my new granddaughter, won't be long until she will be able to pose for the photograph herself.

aart, it is a 250 watt bucket heater, got them from Amazon. It has a temp function so as that it only turns on if it gets down below 40 F and then off again if the temp is above that set point. I'll try to get a picture of it if you like. I had good luck this first winter with a pair of them. I looked up my order and I hope the link works… only down side is the spiral cord cover is not stainless, it will and does rust, so I just cut off the portion that goes into the bucket.

Hello!! We also bought the horizontal nipples however, when water is left in the drip tray it freezes! Any recommendations on how to keep that from happening? Also, how did you switch your chickens to the nipples?

Hello!! We also bought the horizontal nipples however, when water is left in the drip tray it freezes! Any recommendations on how to keep that from happening? Also, how did you switch your chickens to the nipples?

It can take some time to train birds to use nipples when they are used to open waterers.
Some get it right away and some can take days to figure it out..... you need to remove all other sources of water.
Not a good thing to do when the weather is extreme(hot or cold) when dehydration could be quickly detrimental to their health.

Here is our winter water set up. It seems to work well, since snow becomes a puddle on top instead of ice. In this video, we show how simple it was to make. We might put another, dark colored bucket around it, to help keep electricity cost down, but as is, it keeps the water liquid.